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An attempt was made to develop a carbon-dioxide laser lidar system which could be used for the surveillance of indoor workplace pollutants. The program had a long term goal of providing a real time map of the spatial distributions of a variety of pollutants in a workplace atmosphere. A rapidly tunable, Q-switched, low pressure laser was developed from time of flight aerosol backscatter differential absorption measurements. Several substantial limits to the use of an aerosol backscatter differential absorption lidar system were identified for workplace monitoring. These restrictions included: limitations of currently available detectors when applied to a high spatial resolution time of flight lidar; the difficulty in providing very high optical isolation ratios for adjacent spaces along the laser beam; the probable low aerosol concentration for air conditioned workplaces; and the difficulty in eliminating induced signals from the laser Q-switch into the receiver electronics.

Field Screening Methods for Hazardous Wastes and Toxic Chemicals. Second International Symposium, February 12-14, 1991. Sponsored by U.S. EPA; U.S. DOE; U.S. Army Toxic and Hazardous Materials Agency; U.S. Army Chemical Research Development and Engineering Center; U.S.A.F.; Florida State Univ.; National Environmental Technology Applications Corp.; and NIOSH